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19th May 1915

Prime Minister Herbert Asquith announces that he will head a coalition government for the duration of the war.

The announcement came with little consultation and caught most Liberals by surprise. At a meeting of over 100 Liberal MPs later in the day it took a strong speech and a threat of resignation from Asquith to prevent the meeting from passing a resolution critical of the change of government. The new cabinet announced a week later consisted of 12 Liberals 8 Conservatives and 1 Labour. Lloyd George took over at the Ministry of Munitions and there were promotions for Reginald McKenna who succeeded Lloyd George at the Treasury and Sir John Simon who became Home Secretary. Liberals who lost out included Haldane, dropped from the cabinet at the insistence of the Tories and Churchill demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster following the unsuccessful Dardanelles campaign.